Can Boris Johnson can make it past the May local elections?

Boris Johnson has gone into the weekend with his fate in the hands of Tory MPs. Since the Prime Minister apologised in the Commons chamber for attending a drinks party in the Downing Street garden during lockdown, there has been a concerted effort to shore up his position.

Members of the Cabinet have come out to defend him – even if the comments have been lukewarm at best – and Boris Johnson has started to frequent the MPs’ tearoom. As of Thursday, there was increased optimism that Sue Gray’s report into alleged Downing Street parties would be something Johnson could weather – with speculation building that he would then reshuffle his Downing Street team and attempt a reset to put the whole saga behind him. The thinking went that if Johnson could get to the local elections – where expectations are already pretty low – and achieve an okay result, talk of his departure would die down.